Pharmacist syndicate head Joe Salloum. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Pharmacists’ syndicate head Joe Salloum called on all pharmacies to close on Tuesday in mourning for the pharmacist Leila Rizk, who was found killed inside of her pharmacy on Monday, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• The NNA reported that Rizk’s body was found in the pharmacy in the Metn area of Mrouj yesterday afternoon next to an emptied cash box. However, the MTV news website later cited Salloum as saying there is conflicting information about whether the pharmacy was robbed.
• On Tuesday, a security source told L'Orient Today that an investigation into the killing is underway. The source denied media reports claiming the victim had been raped, but did not provide any specifics as to the broader nature of the crime that led to Rizk's death.
• Salloum described the crime as “heinous,” in a statement published by the NNA, adding that Rizk was murdered “while carrying out her humanitarian duty inside her pharmacy in Mrouj … we have always warned about and called on the security services to provide protection for pharmacies.”
• Salloum asked the Interior Minister to “intensify efforts to achieve justice and expose the perpetrators and bring them to trial so that they receive fair retribution as soon as possible, in order to ensure that the pharmaceutical sector continues to carry out its duty towards, and does not have to completely stop working to preserve their security and lives.”